Tuban
Encyclopedia
Tuban is a town located on the north coast of Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

, in Tuban Regency, approximately 100 km west of Surabaya
Surabaya
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

, the capital of East Java
East Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...

. Tuban is surrounded by Lamongan
Lamongan
Lamongan is a regency of East Java, Indonesia, with an area of .Lamongan Regency is surrounded by:*Northern side : Java Sea*Southern side : Regency of Mojokerto and Jombang*Eastern side : Gresik Regency...

 in the east, Bojonegoro
Bojonegoro
Bojonegoro is a regency in East Java, Indonesia, about 110 km west of Surabaya. Bojonegoro is located in the inland part of northern Java plain, on the banks of the Bengawan Solo river, the largest river in Java....

 in the south and Rembang, Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...

 in the west.

As an ancient town, Tuban is of considerable historical and cultural value. The most prominent feature is the beauty of the scenery such as beaches, caves, and forests, especially the teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

 forest.

Tuban was formerly an important port in the Majapahit era and is mentioned in Chinese records from the eleventh century. An ancient anchor from one of Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...

's ships is preserved in the historical museum. Tuban is believed to have been Islamised before its conquest by Demak
Sultanate of Demak
The Sultanate of Demak was Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present day city of Demak. A port fief to the Majapahit kingdom thought to have been founded in the last quarter of the 15th century, it was influenced by Islam brought by Arab and...

 c. 1527. Even following its Islamisation, it remained loyal to Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit in the interior. The grave of Sunan Bonang
Sunan Bonang
Sunan Bonang, whose real name was Raden Maulana Makdum Ibrahim, was born in Tuban, East Java in 1465 CE and died in 1525 CE at Pulau Bawean.He was one of the Wali Songo, along with his father Sunan Ampel and his brother Sunan Drajat....

, a sixteenth-century Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic missionary - one of the Wali Sanga
Wali Sanga
The Wali Sanga are revered saints of Islam in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java, because of their historic role in the Spread of Islam in Indonesia. The word wali is Arabic for "trusted one" or "friend of God" , while the word songo is Javanese for the number nine...

 involved in the initial spread of Islam in Java
The spread of Islam in Indonesia (1200 to 1600)
Islam was brought into Indonesia by traders from Gujarat, India during the eleventh century, although Muslims had visited the archipelago early in the Muslim era. By the end of the 16th century, Islam, through conversion, had surpassed Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion of the peoples...

, is located in Tuban. This site is an important destination for Muslim pilgrims.

History

The town's name has been derived from the following story: a mythical pair of birds flying from Majapahit to Demak dropped a precious heirloom
Heirloom
In popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members....

 stone on the town thereafter named Tuban based on the Javanese
Javanese language
Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...

 phrase "waTU tiBAN", which means "stone fallen from the sky". Another explanation refers to flooding ("TU BANyu" meaning "water streaming out") that occurred when the aristocratic Islamic scholar Raden Dandang Wacana entered the Papringan Forest, discovering an old well near the seaside that miraculously contained freshwater. The name has furthermore been derived from "Tubo", meaning poison, in keeping with the name of a Tubanese subdistrict named Jenu
Jenu
In Mi'kmaq folklore, a Jenu is a wild and cannibalistic hairy giant.Jenua are comparable to the Wendigo of Anishinaabe and Cree mythology ....

 to this day, which carries the same meaning.

The official history of Tuban began in the Majapahit era in the 13th century. There was once an important ceremony when the king of Majapahit crowned Ronggolawe as the principal of the Tuban region. It was held on 12 November 1293 and that date has become the anniversary of Tuban, making it more ancient than Surabaya. Tuban's 700th anniversary was celebrated with a grand parade of decorated floats in 1993. The spread of Islam was pioneered by Sunan Bonang and his follower named Sunan Kalijaga
Sunan Kalijaga
Sunan Kalijaga , born as Raden Mas Said son of a Regent of Tuban in East Java, Indonesia, was one of the "nine saints" of Islam . Initially a grass salesman, the "Kalijaga" title was derived from an orchard known as "Kalijaga" in Cirebon. Other accounts suggest the name derives from his hobby of...

, who was the son of the Tubanese principal in the 13th century.

Economy

Tuban is famous for tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 and hardwood teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

 production. PT Semen Gresik, a major state-owned cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

 company, opened the largest cement factory in Indonesia in Tuban in 1994. A petrochemical
Petrochemical
Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....

 plant operated by Trans-Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) opened in 2006 after several years of delays. in 2010 also will be built in Tuban Holcim cement plant & Coal Fired Power Station to be built in Jenu.

Education

There are four universities in Tuban, Universitas Sunan Bonang and the recently established Universitas Ronggolawe (UNIROW), which started as a Teacher Training College named IKIP PGRI TUBAN, STITMA and STIKES NU (College of Health Sciences Nahdlatul Ulama Tuban)which was inaugurated by Health Minister Hj. Siti Fadilah Supari . Voluntary Service Overseas
Voluntary Service Overseas
Voluntary Service Overseas is an international development charity that works through experienced volunteers living and working as equals alongside local partners. It is the largest independent volunteer-sending organization in the world...

 posted a number of ELT
ELT
- Science and technology :* Emergency Locator Transmitter, a type of distress beacon used in aircraft* Extremely Large Telescope, a type of telescope...

 volunteers to train local counterparts from 1989 onwards, followed by teachers from Volunteers in Asia, all warmly received as the only Westerners (called Londo, derived from the Javanese
Javanese language
Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...

 word for Belanda = Dutch) in town.

Tourism

Tuban is famous for its unique batik
Batik
Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Batik or fabrics with the traditional batik patterns are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, China, Azerbaijan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Singapore.Javanese traditional batik, especially from...

, locally known as Batik Gedog. Typical motifs are sea animals in dark colours such as blue and purple. There is a traditional Chinese temple named Klenteng by the beach, which is visited by many local tourists from Surabaya and environs, especially when Imlek, the Chinese New Year is celebrated.


Tuban is known as the "City of a Thousand Caves" since there are so many cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

s in the area, containing both stalagtites and stalagmites. Famous caves such as Goa Akbar and Goa Maharani (which contains sophisticated pre-formed statues believed to be natural by young and old) are located near the city. Besides, there are many recreational sites worth visiting, such as Goa Ngerong, a natural swimming pool called Pemandian Alam Bektiharjo, a waterfall
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 named Air Terjun Nglirip, and the beach and pier for young couples, Pantai Boom.


Tuban is also well-known for its beverage tuak
Tuak
Tuak is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented rice, yeast and sugar and drank in parts of Indonesia such as Sumatra, Sulawesi, Penang Islands, Borneo and East Malaysia. In these areas it is often referred to as rice wine...

, strong palm wine
Palm wine
Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...

 taken from the Aren tree (called uwit bogor) served in large bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 mugs called centak. Historically, the Tubanese used tuak as a strategic weapon against the colonial invaders, who were unable to fight when inebriated. Its non-alcoholic variety named Legen is drunk by women and children. Tuak and a kind of gin
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...

 named arak are also served at traditional dance parties known as Tayuban or Sindiran, at which heavily made-up and padded female entertainers called Waranggono sing satirical songs and dance with paying males till the break of dawn, accompanied by a small gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....

 orchestra. The dance movements are a vulgarised version of the Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...

nese palatial dance style known as Srimpi. One of the most notable of these entertainers, Nyi Sumini, was selected as one of five representatives to perform at Jakarta's Taman Mini Indonesia Indah
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah
Taman Mini Indonesia Indah or "Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park" is a culture-based recreational area located in East Jakarta, Indonesia. It has an area of about...

 park. One of Indonesia's most famous and prolific pop bands, Koes Plus
Koes Plus
Koes Plus is an Indonesian musical group that enjoyed success in the 1970s. Known as one of Indonesia's classic musical acts, the band peaked in popularity in the days far before the advent of private television companies, delivering stripped-down pop and rock songs at the then-only TV station,...

, hailed from Tuban.


The most luxurious hotel in town, the Hotel Mustika was burnt to the ground when riots broke out after one of the candidates accused his opponents of having framed the outcome of the local elections to decide who would become the next regent or Bupati. The first female candidate in Tuban's history, Haeny Relawati, won and the instigator of the riots has been imprisoned.
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